The Samsung iPhone

Ever since the basic concepts for a computer mouse were developed by Xerox in the 1970s, Apple has been accused of stealing technological ideas for their own benefit. Steve Jobs visited Xerox headquarters in the early stages of mouse design, and years later developed a version of the product himself.

Many skirmishes over design originality have arisen between Apple and Samsung, especially when Apple attempted to copyright “a rectangular phone with round corners.”

The New Samsung Galaxy S6. (Photo courtesy of Samsung Mobile Press)

But even through claims of misappropriation, Apple has also been a source of innovation, as demonstrated with their latest smartphone, the iPhone 6. In fact, the iPhone 6 has become so popular, that Samsung has taken interest in some of the concepts behind the structural and visual aspects of it.

Samsung’s new smartphone, the Galaxy S6, is expected to hit the markets in April 2015, and it has already received attention for its similarities to the iPhone 6.

Visually, the volume buttons, headphone jack, charge port, speaker, and side of the S6 look very similar to the iPhone 6. The S6 also features a fingerprint scanner similar to the Iphone 6.

But while the similar aesthetics of the two phones can be debated back and forth, one of the most blatant similarities emerges from the pay systems in each phone.

Released in late October 2014, Apple Pay is a system that allows users to essentially turn their phone into a credit card where payments are validated by a fingerprint scanner on the iPhone 6.

The release of the Galaxy S6 also brings the release of Samsung Pay, which does exactly what it sounds like: the same functions that Apple Pay performs.

While the similarities and differences arise between technological products such as smartphones, the nature of appropriation benefits the technology in the long run. In a quote from Pablo Picasso that Steve Jobs mentioned in an interview, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.”